Chapter 424: The Goto Islands

None of the Chinese on the ship took his so-called descendant of General Ping seriously. The Chinese were neither familiar with Japanese history nor were they unfamiliar with this kind of trick of claiming a famous ancestor, so they just listened to it for the time being. In contrast, the Japanese sailors, who were very interested in family names and lineage, were very interested in this.

Seeing that Fukue Island was gradually appearing on the sea in front of them, Ping Qiusheng, who had been standing by the railing, intending to create his “historic moment,” began to sing a Japanese song in a low voice:

(Pass through, pass through)

(If we go forward, where will the narrow path be?)

(The narrow path leading to the heavenly god)

(No need for opinions, it’s hard to pass)

(For this child’s tenth celebration)

(We offer a prayer with two talismans)

(The going is a cool breeze, the return is weary)

(My heart is weary, can I go straight through?)

Zichuan and the other naturalized citizen cadres who were accompanying him to Goto listened respectfully to Chief Ping’s out-of-tune singing. The Japanese naturalized citizens obviously had no sense of incongruity, while the naturalized citizens from Guangdong and Fujian listened with a strange expression of tolerance.

Because this was a business cooperation, there were not many people accompanying them. In addition to his own life secretary, two guards drawn from the special reconnaissance team, and a few business personnel, there was also a Senator named Qiao Tianzhi.

This Senator Qiao was very young. In his old world, he was an unsuccessful programmer and a successful otaku. Senator Qiao was bored with being a programmer and dabbled in hacking. The result of being an unsuccessful hacker was that he had to run to another world to avoid being investigated. Like all programmer Senators, Senator Qiao had been doing data work in the Great Library since D-Day. He also wrote code for the Executive Committee and various departments. In particular, the Planning Commission had a great need for secondary development of databases.

Senator Qiao had been a nobody in the library for three years. During this time, he also bought a maid, but he quickly grew tired of her. The maid was too far from his imagination. Boring work plus a boring maid, Qiao Tianzhi’s small universe finally erupted. He decided to go on an adventure and signed up for work related to Japan. Fortunately, he had special skill points: English and Japanese. Especially the latter. Although Senator Qiao had never taken a single Japanese professional class, through years of immersion in otaku culture, he had actually taught himself to the point where he could watch anime and Japanese dramas directly.

They only carried very simple medicines, weapons, and a radio. Ping Qiusheng himself was a medical professional and later engaged in the construction industry. In addition to Japanese, he also had a slight knowledge of Korean. He still had the ability to build an intelligence station in Japan. This time, he took this opportunity to connect with the Zhou family and get a free ride.

Goto is now under the rule of the Fukue domain. The lord of the Fukue domain is the Goto family. The Goto family has been a pirate, or rather, a naval family in Kyushu for hundreds of years. The Goto navy has been active in this area since the Genpei War. They are a typical coastal powerful local clan in Japan, and they were not absent from the “Japanese pirates” that gradually emerged from the Yuan Dynasty.

The Goto family lived a life of half-pirate, half-fisherman for 21 generations. The 21st head of the family, Goto Harumasa, once led the Goto navy to participate in Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s death, he remained neutral in the Battle of Sekigahara. Therefore, Goto Harumasa was able to obtain a red-seal permit from Tokugawa Ieyasu in the 8th year of the Keicho era (1603), officially becoming the first lord of the Fukue domain and a 15,000-koku outside lord.

Ping Qiusheng remembered that at this time, the lord of the Fukue domain was the second-generation Goto Moritoshi. This adopted son of the Goto family had killed his rival, the first lord Harumasa’s biological son, Ohama Mondo, in a political struggle eighteen years ago. In order to consolidate his power and reorganize the retainers in the domain, Moritoshi had spent twenty years, and it was now coming to an end.

Ping Qiusheng had prepared a good gift for him: a Lingao-made steel decorative sword, a pair of oval dressing mirrors, and a glass Buddha statue. As a 15,000-koku outside lord, Lord Moritoshi would surely know the weight of this gift.

Ping Qiusheng put away his thoughts. The ship had already arrived at the Fukue Island pier. After a flurry of activity, he finally went ashore. A young man was already waiting at the pier. Before the big ship set off, a fast boat had been sent back to report, and this was the person who had come.

“Master Ping, my master has already prepared a sedan chair.” The interpreter greeted them, and a two-man small sedan chair came out from a nearby shed. It was said to be a sedan chair, but it was actually a Japanese-style palanquin. Judging by the stature and demeanor of the bearers, they were undoubtedly Japanese. Although it was customary to follow local customs, Ping Qiusheng looked at his own belly and finally politely declined the good intentions of the person who had come. He decided to walk. For one thing, he had heard that the Zhou family’s trading post was not far from here, and for another, this was his first time in Japan in this time and space, so he could also see the market along the way. The interpreter knew the temper of the Australians and did not insist, so he went along with this person.

Fukue Island is where the lord of the Fukue domain resides. It is relatively densely populated, and the market is also more prosperous. The roads are flat, and it is clear that some effort has been put into them. Along the way, there were some thatched sheds with scattered fish and vegetables, but no meat was seen. Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the upper-class nobility of Japan, influenced by Buddhism, no longer ate meat, and it gradually became a nationwide custom. Therefore, the appearance of the vendors along the way, although not emaciated from hunger, was clearly malnourished, with a withered, dark, and thin appearance. The height of the men was mostly below 1.6 meters, and the women were even shorter, many of them just over 1.4 meters.

However, since Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan has not had a nationwide war for decades, and the benefits of social stability are obvious, unlike the dilapidated state of the Ming Dynasty everywhere. Although the living standards of the common people were not high, they were not living in fear and uncertainty. This made Ping Qiusheng sigh with emotion. It is better to be a dog in a time of peace than a man in a time of chaos. It is indeed so.

Behind the sheds were some larger Japanese-style houses, all of which were only one story. From the style, they looked like trading posts, but they did not have the lively atmosphere of Lingao, nor the atmosphere of a general East Asian port at this time. About five hundred meters ahead, Ping Qiusheng noticed a row of longhouses on his right. It seemed that there was another courtyard inside.

“Is this the residence of the local magistrate?”

“This is the residence of the samurai masters,” the interpreter replied.

“Why does it look like no one lives there? Are the masters usually not here?”

“That’s not it. After the lord’s castle, Egawa Castle, was burned down in the 19th year of the Keicho era, the Minister of War built a camp at Ishida and ordered all the retainers to move to the newly built Ishida camp. So, naturally, no one is here anymore,” the interpreter was not surprised by Ping Qiusheng’s question. “Ahead is my master’s residence.”

Sure enough, less than fifty meters ahead was a courtyard. This courtyard was very conspicuous. The traditional Chinese-style architecture was somewhat out of place with the architecture here—very abrupt.

The interpreter led them to the door. The courtyard gate opened, and a young servant came out to greet them. He said in somewhat awkward Southern Zhili official dialect, “My master has been waiting for a long time. Please, the master from Australia, go to the flower hall to sit for a while first.”

Entering the courtyard, it was a different scene. The style of the Chinese architecture in this time and space, combined with the Japanese-style courtyard and plants, made the transmigrators secretly praise its exquisiteness. The flower hall was in the first courtyard. Although it was a Chinese-style building, it was laid out according to a Japanese-style courtyard. Sitting down in the inner room, the outside was actually the main gate, but it was separated by some plants, so the outside scene could not be seen. Two special reconnaissance team members stood behind him. Ping Qiusheng collected his thoughts. The servants served some tea as usual. After a short while, he saw two young servants supporting an old man coming out. The old man was about sixty years old, with graying temples. Although his clothes and maintenance were exquisite, his demeanor showed that he had been through a lot. It seemed that this person was definitely Zhou Xingru.

The two sat down without much ceremony. Zhou Xingru had heard from the returning interpreter that this Australian also called himself a sea merchant, but his actions were very different from those of a sea merchant. In the past few days, the ship’s crew had seen the Australians building cities and roads, digging canals and reclaiming wasteland on Jeju Island, and the interpreter had reported all of this to his master. This Master Zhou had also been through some things and knew that this group of sea merchants had big plans. Not to mention anything else, just the fact that they had directly occupied Jeju Island showed that their courage was greater than that of Wang Zhi back then.

Of course, the Joseon Dynasty was not a powerful opponent, but for the Australian sea merchants to make such a decision and undertake such a large enterprise was something that ordinary people could not do.

With this understanding, Master Zhou was naturally cautious in his words and actions, observing their expressions and occasionally asking about Australia and Ping Qiusheng’s ancestors.

Master Zhou was from Southern Zhili, and his knowledge was naturally much greater than that of the sea merchants from Fujian. He knew that his own foundation was shallow and that he was an outsider among the sea merchants, making it difficult to resist the rising sea merchants from Fujian and Guangdong. Therefore, he had long ago gone through the shogunate’s channels and obtained a red-seal permit from the shogunate, allowing him to appear as a Japanese merchant ship at any time. This advantage of being able to change his identity was something that other sea merchants could not match. That was why he was able to maintain his share among the chaotic and numerous sea merchant and pirate groups in the East China Sea for a long time.

However, the domineering attitude that Zheng Zhilong gradually showed in the trade with Japan made Zhou Xingru feel a lot of pressure. His relationship with the shogunate was indeed very good, but Zheng Zhilong’s relationship with the shogunate was also very strong. What’s more, Zheng Zhilong’s strength—whether it was financial, military, or the number of ships—was far superior to his own.

If Old Zheng wanted to monopolize the trade, he would be helpless.

Now, an Australian sea merchant had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and they had directly stayed on Jeju Island without leaving. Master Zhou knew very well that neither Jeju Island nor the Joseon Dynasty had anything worth this group of people investing so much in. The only thing they were after was the big fat piece of meat that was the Sino-Japanese trade.